At Grand Central, Your Life Is in Their Hands

SAL OLIVA had a hunch that the woman he knew as Cha would make a great firefighter, even though, at 5-foot-1, she didn't look the part.

Back then, in the early 90's, Cha, whose real name is Teeranuch Wimana, was the manager of a bakery at Grand Central Terminal, and Mr. Oliva would often stop by and suggest that she consider joining the volunteer fire brigade there.

When she left the bakery to become a meter reader for Metro-North in 1994, she signed up. Today, at 47, she is the brigade's emergency medical services coordinator, scheduling first-aid training for members and for other Metro-North employees.

"She is a five-foot powerhouse," said Mr. Oliva, who is now the fire brigade's chief. "Her heart is bigger than any eight-footer I know. She is totally fearless."

On any given day, your health and mine could depend on Ms. Wimana and the 24 other volunteer members of the Grand Central fire brigade. Last year, it responded to 720 medical emergencies and 26 fires. In fact, on the day I toured the terminal with Chief Oliva, Ms. Wimana and her colleagues had just helped a passenger who had collapsed as he was leaving a train, falling to the platform and injuring his head. The volunteers immobilized him, put him onto a stretcher and prepared him for transport by a city Fire Department ambulance.

Chief Oliva is the only paid member of the department. Everyone else has another job with the railroad. Most are blue-collar workers: janitors, electricians, machinists.

"To use an old saying, we all work for a living," said Andrew Cina, a machinist who is the brigade's captain.

All the volunteers carry beepers and radios, but Chief Oliva said, "They all have a sixth sense -- they know when something's up."

He said that he finds volunteers primarily through word of mouth and that many stay on for years, even though they get no extra pay.

"It gives them a sense of pride," he said. "Not only are they protecting one of the most famous buildings in the world, but it's also where they work -- it's their house."

Every volunteer is trained at a fire academy and is certified as an emergency medical technician. Members speak with pride of the lives they have saved.

Mr. Cina recalled the day last May when several department members were in their dress uniforms preparing for an award ceremony. They received a report that a woman was lying on the floor in the terminal, apparently in cardiac arrest.

Chief Oliva said he believed that his is the most elaborate volunteer operation at any transportation center in the country. It works closely with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority police, as well as with the city's Fire Department and Emergency Medical Service.

The brigade has its own firehouse in a storage bay adjacent to Track 14. Inside are three electric carts that look like a child's idea of emergency vehicles. The "ambulance," no wider than a hospital bed, is painted white. The two "fire engines" are red. All are equipped with flashing red lights, and the pumper carries 200 gallons of water and 300 feet of fire hose.

But it is the ambulance that gets the most use. Chief Oliva said the railroad is so fanatical about housekeeping -- making sure that flammable materials and fire hazards are removed -- that fires are rare.

"There's no pride in fighting a fire that could have been prevented," he said.

For 20 years, Patricia Strizak, a health educator affiliated with Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center in Brooklyn, has been training brigade members to handle medical emergencies.

"Initially they were just trained in first aid," she said. "I trained some as E.M.T.'s. We wanted to give them more status. We secured an agreement with the state designating them as first responders."

She provides instruction at Grand Central twice a month and is constantly trying to upgrade the volunteers' skills. "In reality, they're like weekend warriors," she said. "The more practice they get, the better prepared they are."

Jade Hargraves, a customer service representative who answers riders' questions at the information desk in the waiting room, is one of the newer volunteers. Like many members, she started taking first-aid courses offered by the brigade because she wanted to be able to help her family in an emergency.

"I have one child," she said "He's the reason I started C.P.R. in the first place. He thinks it's real cool that his mom is a firefighter/E.M.T."